Hate Crimes Against People with Disabilities Increase in 2017

As reported by the FBI’s newly released 2017 Hate Crimes Statistics, hate crimes committed on the basis of disability increased from 70 reported incidents to 116 reported incidents between 2016 and 2017. That represents a 65 percent increase in a single year. When considering hate crime statistics, however, it is important to know that hate crimes are often underreported due to factors ranging from reporting protocols which vary greatly from state to state and victims hesitating to report a crime to the police or not knowing how to do so.